Machine builder, agreed. Passing over a particular dip with the upper StableLoads it felt like the OEM shocks (truck has about 8000 miles) didn't have enough damping or dampening (resistance) during rebound (suspension extension) to control the quicker rate that it moved. The same dip after removal of the StableLoads at a similar speed felt smoother and more controlled. Any more weight would start to slow the effective spring rate down so much it'd be "floaty", like the overloaded trucks you see not yet riding on the axle bump stops. Per Fred Puhn's "How to Make Your Car Handle" I read about forty years ago, that Goldilocks zone of around 1.5 suspension cycles per second is hard to maintain with varying loads without air suspensions much more complex than typical sir bags, and shock valving even more complex. Even one-ton pickups have suspension designed to not be intolerably firm when empty, so a modest increase in overall spring rate via another leaf or two in the main leaf pack should be a good compromise.
Edited by michelle_east_county, 21 June 2022 - 09:26 PM.